Roteang Orphanage

The Sharing Foundation’s orphanage in Roteang village was built in 2000, setting new standards for compassionate, hygienic, nutritional, and medical care of Cambodian’s children. Home to 70 children admitted without regard for such diagnoses as HIV, syphilis, cerebral palsy, or hepatitis, many will stay in TSF care permanently. With a caring adult presence, the ratio of nannies to preschool children is 1:2, for school-age children 1:3 or 1:4, and children with serious special needs have their own nannies. Medical and dental needs are met by a Cambodian physician and Canadian dental NGO who visit regularly.

A lively girls’ dormitory, Mary Jane’s House, was completed in 2009. In addition to 18 bedrooms and a few spacious bathrooms, this building has a large common room on the first floor where computer classes are held daily and special events are staged. Elective traditional Cambodian dance and music classes, taught by professional teachers, are popular activities.

Also on site, a dedicated teacher runs a daily preschool where younger children delight in music, painting, books, puzzles and games, experiencing both Khmer and English. In the afternoon, older children utilize this same space as an activities center.

TSF home-schools first and second graders at the orphanage before they join the village school in third grade. Over time, our orphanage population has matured and many now attend the Roteang middle school and Jayavarman VII High School five miles away. In addition, a number of children study in the evenings at the TSF English program in the village.

We are currently working with each of our older orphanage children to consider the most appropriate path for his or her future, anticipating that some of them will attend university in Phnom Penh, while others will benefit from trade school. Our goal is for all of our children, many of whom have been with us since infancy, to become thoughtful, independent, contributing members of Cambodian society.

Preschool and enrichment classes

Teachers at the preschool located in Roteang Orphanage provide early literacy programs for our youngest children, as well as educational support for our special needs students. Then we closely track the progress of our orphanage children attending the village school, offering daily tutoring sessions for them, both before and after school.